So, You Have A UTI?

So I’ve wanted to write this post for a while. However, how do you breach such an icky subject? Well you just face it head on.

A Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) is a bacterial infection in your urinary tract. While they typically affect the lower part of the urinary tract, the bladder and urethra, it is possible that they can spread to or infect other parts of the urinary tract such as the kidneys.

Over the course of the last year, I’ve had 4 or 5 UTIs. 4 or 5 very painful, very annoying UTIs. I don’t know why suddenly I started having these issues, but I was desperate for a solution that didn’t include having to take antibiotics again. So I started scouring the internet looking for alternatives treatment. Everyone, who’s ever had a UTI knows you drink cranberry juice, take AZO, or something of the sort to treat one, but how do you prevent one?

Typically, the urinary tract is a sterile environment. You wouldn’t think it, but it is. Anyway, once bacteria are introduced to the environment they spread and the UTI is born. Most women know, when you get a UTI cranberry juice helps with the symptoms, but we don’t really know why. Well I didn’t anyway lol. So, cranberries contain components such as proanthocyanidins (Try saying that 3 times fast), which prevent bacteria from attaching to the urinary tract. However, why wait until you are in the mist of a full-blown UTI to treat it. Why not just take a cranberry supplement every day to prevent it. (Not that I am opposed to drinking cranberry juice, because I love cranberry juice, but I prefer to drink water… anyway.)

A couple of months ago I picked up a bottle of NatureMade’s Super Strength Cranberry supplement from BJs. They are 450mg and you take two a day. I took it for a couple of weeks then tested it out to see if what traditionally caused me to get a UTI would cause me to get a UTI. Not because I wanted another 3 day course of antibiotics, because trust me I didn’t, but because I wanted to see if it actually worked. It worked! I was astonished that 900mg of Cranberry Extract could keep me from getting yet another UTI. But it did!

So just like I passed on the information about calcium supplements potentially being helpful for migraine sufferers, I am passing along this information that cranberry supplements can help UTI sufferers. I hope it helps someone, because antibiotic resistance is a real issue and we should look for more natural avenues to preventing diseases instead of relying on drugs to treat them. (did that make sense? It’s pretty early lol)

Okay, so that is it for now. I feel like writing today, so maybe I’ll go give my (now late) paper a try. Have a wonderful day guys!